Emys concentrica var. polita Gray, 1831

Nowak-Kemp, Małgosia & Fritz, Uwe, 2010, Chelonian type specimens at the Oxford University Museum, Zootaxa 2604 (1), pp. 1-19 : 8

Emys concentrica var. polita Gray in Griffith & Pidgeon, 1831: p. 11

Current name: Malaclemys terrapin terrapin (Schoepff, 1793)

Syntype (1 specimen): OUM 8475 ( Bell Collection , Catalogue of Testudinata No. 32i; shell, SCL 10.6 cm, bears small label with number “160”).

Remarks: Among Bell’s specimens of Malaclemys terrapin , only OUM 8575 agrees with the description of the variety polita in Gray (1831a, b) in having a black carapace with “ polished appearance ”. Also the other characters (upwards curled marginal scutes, sculptured scutes with smooth surface, yellow plastron with big black spots) agree well with the description in Gray (1831a: p. 27). Therefore, we identify this specimen with a type of Emys concentrica var. polita . Gray (loc. cit.) explicitly mentions that he has studied specimens of this variety from Bell’s collection and from the collection of the College of Surgeons, London. Consequently, OUM 8475 has syntype status.

Another variety of Emys concentrica described by Gray (1831a: p. 27), Emys concentrica var. livida , was credited to a manuscript name by Bell ( Emys livida ). Gray further points out that of the variety livida only material from Bell’s collection was known to him, suggesting that the name-bearing type(s) should be in Oxford. However, none of the nine extant Bell specimens of Malaclemys terrapin agrees with the rather superficial description in Gray (1831a, translated from Latin: “ shell bluish with obscured growth rings ”), and we conclude that the original material has been lost. Perhaps the specimen of ‘ Emys concentrica ’ destroyed in 1903 due to bad preservation has to be identified with the holotype of Emys concentrica var. livida .